Delhi University’s Kirori Mal College Monday expelled two students and rusticated another for allegedly ragging a junior in the hostel. Delhi Police have registered a case against the two who have denied the charges and said their version was not heard by the college authorities.
The college authorities received a complaint from a first year B.Sc. (Physical Science) student Ashutosh that he was ragged and sexually harassed by two third-year students - Akshay Chaudhary and Hani Mohammad - in the college hostel Sunday evening. “We have decided to expel both the students and registered a police complaint for physically, sexually and mentally harassing a junior student. We have also rusticated another third-year student for sending Ashutosh to his seniors,” Principal Bhim Sen Singh told reporters here.
A senior Delhi Police official said a case was registered after they received a formal complaint of the incident from the college. “We have registered a case under appropriate sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and appropriate action is being taken,” the officer added. The decision to expel the students was taken at a meeting of the college disciplinary and anti-ragging committee. The victim and the accused students were asked to appear before the committee but none of them turned up.
“It is a very serious case and I took the decision to expel the students with a heavy heart as I know their whole career will be spoiled,” Singh said.
“But I think it was needed as tough action against them will set an example to other students not to dare rag juniors. The decision will give confidence to juniors to come out openly against ragging,” the principal added.
According to Singh, the victim did not turn up before the committee but spoke with him over phone.
“He is disturbed and shocked after the incident. I tried to counsel him to boost his morale. He has shifted out of the hostel and is staying with his local guardian,” said Singh. The expelled students have denied the charges, saying it was only a formal introduction and the victim took it seriously.
Two jailed
Two engineering students from the Panjab University (PU) here were sent to jail Monday for allegedly ragging a junior student, police said. A case was registered against two second-year students of University Institute of Engineering Technology (UIET) department of the PU. They were arrested Sunday evening.
Saurab Nandal and Rupesh Kumar studying here at UIET were booked after the hostel warden registered a formal complaint against them.
“We had presented them in court today (Monday) and they have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Our investigations are still on,” Sukhbir Rana, investigating officer of the case, told IANS Monday.
PU authorities also suspended the students until the probe is completed.
“Once they are available for giving their statement, we will initiate our separate inquiry into the case. For the time being, the police are investigating the case and we cannot interfere in their trial,” Naval Kishore, dean of students’ welfare of PU, told IANS.
The issue surfaced when some students of Indian Theatre department saw Saurab ragging a first-year student of UIET outside his hostel Friday night. The students reported the matter to the PU authorities, who then informed the police.
The junior student, who is from Noida in Uttar Pradesh, is staying here in the hostel.
In the last academic session, nearly 25 students were found involved in ragging on the PU campus. Half a dozen of them were expelled.
PU, one of the oldest universities of the country, was established in 1882 at Lahore and was shifted to Chandigarh in 1956.
The campus is spread in Sectors 14 and 25 of the union territory. There are over 10,000 students, of which 70 percent are girls, who study here in over 60 teaching and research departments.